(*) - City moved up at least one place in the standings in the most recent update.

Ties are broken in favor of cities that have never won a championship, then by cities that have had the most time elapse since their last championship.

In the above, I lump teams that are in the same market together. Thus, the Giants, Jets, Devils, Rangers, Islanders, Nets, Knicks, Yankees and Mets are all "New York". I consider the AFL to be an equivalent "major" league from 1960-65 since they had their own championship prior to playing the NFL champion in what would become the SuperBowl following the 1966 season. Also, I show AFL/NFL champions in the year the season was played, regardless of whether the championship occurred in December or January of the following year. Currently, the championships occur in this order: NHL, NBA, MLB, NFL; prior to the 2006, the NBA Finals occured prior to the Stanley Cup.

The list does NOT include cities who have had major league teams in the past but who are sports-less today (like Fort Wayne, Rochester and Omaha). The list also lumps all of Canada together and treats it as one "city".

Sports Futility

I was reading online yesterday about how long the cities of Seattle and Pittsburgh have had to wait for a champion, now that they're playing each other in next week's Super Bowl. It got me to thinking... which city has the longest current streak of non-championship seasons for their "major" sports league team(s) (baseball, basketball, hockey and football)?

I ran the numbers last night ... it's Cleveland in a landslide.

Cleveland has endured 115 straight seasons without a champion. The last team there to hoist any type of championship hardware was the '64 Browns. Since then, Cleveland has had 35 Cavalier, 41 Indian, and 39 Brown seasons without a title. The next closest is Philadelphia with 90 seasons -- 23 Eagles, 22 76ers, 22 Flyers and 23 Phillies seasons have come and gone since the '83 Sixers won the NBA Finals.

Ties are broken in favor of cities that have never won a championship, then by cities that have had the most time elapse since their last championship.

In the above, I lump teams that are in the same market together. Thus, the Giants, Jets, Devils, Rangers, Islanders, Nets, Knicks, Yankees and Mets are all "New York". I consider the AFL to be an equivalent "major" league from 1960-65 since they had their own championship prior to playing the NFL champion in what would become the SuperBowl following the 1966 season. Also, I show AFL/NFL champions in the year the season was played, regardless of whether the championship occurred in December or January of the following year. Currently, the championships occur in this order: NHL, NBA, MLB, NFL; prior to the 2006, the NBA Finals occured prior to the Stanley Cup.

The list does NOT include cities who have had major league teams in the past but who are sports-less today (like Fort Wayne, Rochester and Omaha). The list also lumps all of Canada together and treats it as one "city".

Your number is off for Philadelphia because the Eagles haven't won a championship since 1960.

You misunderstand what the numbers are. It's the number of professional seasons the city has gone since it's last championship. True, the Eagles haven't won the NFL title since 1960, but the City of Philadelphia's last championship was the 76ers winning the 1983 NBA Finals. The measure is from that point forward. The Sixers are the most recent Philly team to win it all, and there have been 90 total sports seasons since then.

What I think is amazing is that Indianapolis is so high. When I started to compile the data, I had no idea that there had been SIXTY professional seasons played in Indy! I knew that all of them were winless, but I would never have guessed that Indy had had teams long enough to be in the top 10 overall (Indy currently ranks #7)

What I think is amazing is that Indianapolis is so high. When I started to compile the data, I had no idea that there had been SIXTY professional seasons played in Indy! I knew that all of them were winless, but I would never have guessed that Indy had had teams long enough to be in the top 10 overall (Indy currently ranks #7)

As long as the Colts never win a title there, that's good enough for me.

I think it is hilarious that Baltimore, which only has 2 major sports teams (and only had 1 of those (NFL) 10 of the 22 years since 1983), has 2 titles since Philly (fully represented) last won one.

If Philly and Cleveland keep it up, Philadelphia will catch Cleveland in 25 years (after the 2031 Stanley Cup Finals). Philly has a team in every league, while Cleveland has all of them except the NHL.

And since no other city has 4 teams AND more seasons without a champ than Philly, Philly controls their own destiny here.... they'll be #1 unless they win something, or unless another "major" sport pops up in the next quarter-century.

Why not make up lists of post season wins for each sport since 1960 and see where the Arizona Cardinals and Detroit Lions end up(at the bottom like always).In three weeks the Pittsburgh Steelers have won more playoff games than the Detroit Lions have won in the last 50 yrs.

Yup, if you look just at # of years between titles, San Diego is the longest of those cities who have won a title... unless you count cities like Rochester, whose Royals won the NBA back in the 40's or some such, or Jacksonville which have NEVER won a championship since the earth cooled.

I like to measure futility in terms of seasons played where some other city got to celebrate.

Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup, marking the first time in 22 professional seasons that Charlotte has won a championship. Miami Heat win the NBA Championship, breaking an 8 season drought since the Marlins won the 2003 World Series.

That number seems (seemed) low. The Panthers have been around for ~12 years, Hurricanes ~10 years, and before the Bobcats, the Hornets were there for ~16 years. (I don't feel like looking up the years they started) So they were higher on the list before the 'Canes took the cup.

But... the 'Canes don't play in Charlotte - they play in Raleigh. So either they need their own category or it should be 'Carolina' instead of 'Charlotte'.

If you are going to lump New Jersey in with New York, shouldn't you also lump Oakland in with San Francisco?

EDIT: and San Jose

Yeah, seriously, I have a problem with the lumping.

I am a native NY'er and I despise teams from Jersey and any affiliation with them. I hate when NY papers cover those teams in any capacity (which they do only because so many NJ'ers work in NYC). NY has more Lakers, Celtics, and Bulls fans than Nets fans.

You split up teams in 1 state and combined teams from different states saying they're the same market?

That number seems (seemed) low. The Panthers have been around for ~12 years, Hurricanes ~10 years, and before the Bobcats, the Hornets were there for ~16 years. (I don't feel like looking up the years they started) So they were higher on the list before the 'Canes took the cup.

But... the 'Canes don't play in Charlotte - they play in Raleigh. So either they need their own category or it should be 'Carolina' instead of 'Charlotte'.

In my spreadsheet, I have the Panthers beggining play in the fall of 1995, and the 'Canes and Hornets in 1998. However, the Hornets started in 1988, not 1998.... I fat-fingered the data when I entered it. Also, I didn't account for there being no NBA in Charlotte for two seasons. I guess it doesn't matter, with the 'Canes having just lifted Lord Stanley, but it bugs me that I had that data wrong.

And I apologize for getting all the Tobacco Road cities confused. I understand the Cincinnati/Cleveland analogy completely, but I may end up lumping Raliegh and Charlotte anyway since there's no overlap in any of the professional sports between the two. Of course, that invalidates my reason for lumping all of the NY/NJ teams together....

I am a native NY'er and I despise teams from Jersey and any affiliation with them. I hate when NY papers cover those teams in any capacity (which they do only because so many NJ'ers work in NYC). NY has more Lakers, Celtics, and Bulls fans than Nets fans.

You split up teams in 1 state and combined teams from different states saying they're the same market?

Aaaahhhh, always the jealous neighbor... Don't you find it a slap in the face that they still go by "New York..."? We just play in your yard because we can. Rent's alot cheaper, as is property value. The Nets will find that out when they skip town and go to Brooklyn. Then the Devils will have Jersey all to themselves.

I don't mean to suggest the work kenbuzz did isn't admirable, I just wish NY and NJ were separate is all. I still think the list is cool, FWIW.

The St Louis Cardinals won the World Series last fall, dropping the Gateway City to the bottom of the list and adding one more season to the futility numbers for the other 29 MLB towns.

I have also incremented the futility number for all of the NFL cities except for Indianapolis and Chicago, whose teams are meeting in the Super Bowl. The winner drops to zero at the bottom of the list, the loser gets a +1.